Page 8 of Shadow of the Moon

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Her arm was a dull throb, but Amberly refused to stop. She had to get to the car, then find alternate means of transportation out of the city. At least it was her weak arm. If it had been her gun arm, that would have been harder to deal with.

Glancing at Devlin out of the corner of her eye, she wondered yet again what the hell was going on. Why had he turned up just in time to save her? More importantly, who had sent him? She had so many questions, but it wasn’t a good time to talk about it. They needed to be on the lookout for whoever had tried to take her out. Because that was what that had been. An organized hit. Necco had been the main target, but she had a feeling she was to be the bonus. Necco was dead. He’d died to give her the photos tucked against her chest, and now she had to figure out where a madman was hiding while trying to keep herself alive from her own agency.

Piece of cake.

And did she really know that Devlin was here to rescue her? Considering their history, maybe he was running the op and took out his companions so that they would no longer be witnesses. No, he wouldn’t work with the CIA. Wasn’t his style.

Her mind was spinning, and it wasn’t because of the blood loss.

Devlin could still be on the take. Three years ago, he’d been more than happy to toss their entire marriage and his career out the window for a little money. Was he still driven by cash? She had no idea what to think.

And she wasn’t going to fall for the flirty vibe he had going. If he wanted to walk in here and pretend to save her, that was fine, but she was keeping her wits about her.

Man, he looked scrumptious, though.

Devlin had always been a good-looking man, and the past few years had put a fine finish on him. His hair was grayer now, but still looked thick and full, swept back from his strong forehead. It was longer than the standard SEAL cut, but it suited him. His eyes were clear and direct, a pale whiskey brown slitted against the sun. Maybe there were a few more lines at the corners, but they all had those. Even as she thought it, he retrieved a pair of sunglasses from his breast pocket and slid them on.

The man walked beside her with the loose-hipped grace he’d always had, and from what she’d seen, there wasn’t a spare ounce of flesh on him. She hadn’t expected him to go to pot over the past three years, but she also hadn’t expected him to be in such exceptional shape. Nothing seemed to have changed. He wore black BDUs cinched low around his hips and a gray T-shirt, and the ubiquitous boots. For as long as she’d known him, Devlin Kreed had worn a single type of boot- what was currently on his feet.

It was obvious from the bullet holes in her attackers that his shooting sense was still intact, as well. What had he been doing for the past three years? Mercenary work? Black ops? He had been too good of a sniper not to use his skills after he was washed out of the Navy.

Devlin had specialized in weapons. There wasn’t a gun made in the world that he didn’t know about. She had a feeling she could ask him even now who was on the cutting edge of deadly weapons, and he would be able to tell her. But it had gone beyond book knowledge. His physical prowess with anything put into his hands was legendary. She knew because she’d been talking to one of his former teammates not too long ago, and he’d still been amazed at some of the shots Moon Devil had taken to protect their team, or forward the mission. He’d been such a phenomenal weapon himself.

Amberly refocused on her surroundings. There were a lot of people on the streets, but then, this was Chicago. No one paid attention to them, though. Since this L platform was on the outskirts of the city, there were a lot of people heading in one direction, toward parking. They merged into the light traffic, Devlin on her wounded side.

“This had better be worth it,” he warned her, glancing around surreptitiously.

They circled the parking lot twice to make sure no one was around her vehicle. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. “You go high and I’ll get my shit,” Amberly told him, and Devlin nodded, separating from her. He walked casually toward an elevated parking garage next door, and she gave him a minute to get into position before she moved toward the car. Out of an abundance of caution, she reclined on the concrete to scan the undercarriage. Nothing looked out of place or abnormal. No pipe bombs or obvious tracker boxes. They might be leaving the car for no good reason.

For the slightest, barest second, she allowed her head to rest on the concrete and closed her eyes. Tiredness made her bones ache, and she couldn’t wait to get somewhere relatively safe. Then she could think and plan and decide what to do.

Levering to her feet, she looked through the windows. Nothing appeared wired, so she hit the key fob unlock and waited to blow up. When nothing happened, she scrambled to open the door. It wasn’t until she dragged in a breath that she realized she’d been holding it. Nothing had happened. Leaning in, she retrieved her computer bag, then popped the trunk to retrieve her backpack. Then, shoving stuff aside, she got down into the spare tire well and retrieved a small, beaded bag. It had an elephant on the front and was worn with use, she’d had it so long. Tucking the bag into the backpack, as well as the envelope of pictures, she dropped her shattered phone into the wheel well. Then she locked the car and walked away, dropping the keys into a trash receptacle.

Devlin met her at the exit ramp to the parking garage, driving an older model Chevy truck. It was obvious it had been lovingly cared for, in spite of its age, and she felt bad for the owner. They had to get out of the city, though. Her safety trumped random-guy’s possession.

“So, where are we going?” Devlin asked eventually. “I’m happy to drive and hope we find something, but I figure you have a destination in mind.”

She sighed, wondering how much she should share with him. They needed to talk before she exposed all her secrets. “Head toward Peoria. We’ll get a motel there and get some sleep.”

“Will do.”

Within ten minutes, they were cruising through corn fields, occasionally broken up by soy bean fields or solar panel fields. Amberly was not the type of person who would enjoy this area for any length of time. Give her a nice cabin in the woods…

“How did you know where I was,” she asked eventually.

Devlin snorted, propping one hand on the steering wheel. “Well, I had this random woman call me and offer me a large amount of money to come rescue you.”

“Because we know money is your main motivation in life…” she couldn’t help but murmur.

Devlin tossed her a look. “Right…”

“So, who was she with?”

“I have no idea,” he sighed.

She turned her head to look at him. “So, you traveled how many miles to a place you thought I might be? To rescue me?”

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